House of Cards
by more-like-reyna
Summary: My first Percy and Reyna fic. Its sad BTW. Reyna is in love. With Percy Jackson. What happens when she confesses her feelings?


HOUSE OF CARDS:

 **BTW everything belongs to Rick Riordan. If it belonged to me-Reyna would have ended up with Leo. And 90% of what I do is One-shots. Even long one shot. But I hate loooong chapter fanfics which exceed 4 chapters.**

 **AU: This is an AU if Percy, Annabeth and Reyna live in New Rome (Camp Jupiter). Percabeth doesn't happen yet.**

 **Spoiler: It's a sad fic, so BEWARE! XD.**

I was sitting in her praetor's room. I was building a house of cards and di immortales-; I would rather fight an army of dracanae instead of this. It was one of the most difficult tasks I have done-testing my perseverance and patience. Meaning it got on my nerves. And I was ADHD, so I hated it even more. But I have to do it because I have to develop the skill I lack i.e. patience-which I had literally zero. But I was getting to the top, after an excruciating hour and a half. Just then I heard a casual ''Sup'. I didn't turn. I knew who it was-Percy Jackson. He sat down on a chair facing me, lounging on it like a sofa. I spared a second to look at him, and, as usual, my heart did a little race. `His sea green eyes made me want to melt. He wasn't too hot or extremely handsome but he was dreamy, funny and a complete seaweed brain (meaning equal parts of cute and stupid). He was one of the few people who could discern my poker face. Gods, I loved him. But I went back to my card house-slowly arranging one card on another. He looked at me for a few seconds and then exclaimed, 'Wow!'

I smirked and said, 'Realizing now?'

'Ha. Very funny. No. that card house would take a lot of time, effort and patience that I won't care to waste. Wow! You're dumber than I realized and you said you would like to be Minerva if you were an Olympian. LOL!'

'Very funny, Jackson. I embrace my flaws unlike you who hide them.'

He pouted. 'Not true. Anyway, I thought about what you said.' My mind flashed back to this morning.

 _Percy and I were walking through New Rome when we passed a Starbucks. I asked, 'You hungry?'_

 _He smiled, 'Of course!'_

 _I laughed. 'When are you not hungry, Perce? That's the real question. Anyways, let's have something.' We walked in and ordered two espressos. He drank his so quickly that I wondered if he would get a coffee freeze (like a brain freeze). I simply sipped mine. I sighed after a few minutes, 'I've always wanted to go on a date in Starbucks.'_

 _He smiled and said, 'me too.' I gave him a weird look and realization struck him a few seconds later. He asked hurriedly, 'This isn't a date right?'_

 _I felt bad but I answered cheerily, 'Of course not, seaweed brain. Don't be stupider than usual!' He winced at the nickname but didn't say anything. I said, after few minutes of silence, 'Percy, you know, I have a crush on you. But it's more than that now. I guess I kinda love you.'_

 _He stammered, 'Wh-whaat? Me? Y-you?' His face went through various emotions in a few seconds and then he scratched the back of his neck (I've noticed that guys do that when they're nervous) and said, 'Um…That was kind of a shock. Err…So now what?'_

 _I rolled my eyes at him. 'You're dumb! Can't you like, figure it out?'_

 _Now he rolled his eyes and snorted, 'Why would you bother mentioning something I already know? Can't you just tell me?' In an afterthought, he added, 'In simple words, please?' He gave me his best puppy dog eyes._

 _He was REALLY dumb. A girl just told you she likes you and the idiot is asking her what happens now. Ugh, boys are dumb. Obviously she wants to ask you out! And you have to say yes or no! I was hoping yes. After all, we were really good friends and he had even admitted once that I was pretty (I don't believe him but yeah, whatever. It still felt nice-even if he was flattering/lying).And a small part of me believed that he might just say yes and he might like me back._

 _I said, slowly, 'Imma make this clear, OK? I-Love-You. And I-Wanna-Know-If-You-Will-Go-Out-With-Me? How's that for simple, idiot?'_

 _He stared at me for a few seconds before gulping loudly. He again scratched the back of his neck and said, 'Um…Rey… I need some time for this decision. You're a good friend and I really don't want to lose that.'_

 _I tried to keep my face placid and have my "famous poker face". Inside my emotions were running around screaming their lungs off._

" _ **What if he doesn't like me" "What if this ruins our friendship" "What if he likes Annabeth more than me"**_ _I tried not to but I immediately felt like I'd been near a Dementor (Ya, I love Harry Potter. It's a guilty pleasure) when I thought the last comment. Annabeth had been Percy's friend for a longer time than me and they were closer, though what they had in common, I did not know. I knew Annabeth-not really well- but just enough to know she was nice and kind-but I didn't like her. She was too perfect, too flawless. And every time she came up when Percy and I were talking, he would get a goofy smile on his face and when I made a slightly critical comment about her, he would scowl at me and tell me to lay off her. When questioned, he would say they were "just friends". By Bellona, he ought to lay off the clichés! Whenever I was feeling particularly depressed, I would wonder whether he defended me with Annabeth. But he never ever defends me and that hurts. I would never admit it but it hurt._

 _He snapped his fingers near my face and I snapped out of my reverie. I guess I had zoned out thinking about him. He looked mortally embarrassed and he said, his voice kind of shaky, 'Ok, Rey. You're a good friend and this is a kind of big decision and I need some time.'_

 _I nodded. I mean, what else am I supposed to do? He then gave me a sheepish grin and then made an attempt to look cool (a very vain attempt, might I say) and said, 'Anyway, don't get your hopes up, Ok? I'm Aw-e-some and all the chicks love me!' I slightly raised my eyebrow at the chick comment._

 _He added, 'And all the guys! I ain't homophobic! Everybody lo-ves me!' I couldn't control myself. I grinned like an idiot and so did he. Did he always have that faint dimple on his right cheek? He slowly got up and went._

I came back to the present. I slightly lifted my eyes to see Percy looking at me, his forehead and eyes scrunched up. I pretended to not care, though internally I was running around, yelling at him to tell him. I focused all my attention on the card house and spoke in a controlled voice I reserve for Senate meetings(when Octavian and the other members are so on my case and pointing out my every mistake and I'm close to a nervous and emotional breakdown and when I need to appear strong), 'Yes, Percy? Your answer?'

He pursed his lips and then blurted out, 'I'm sorry, Reyna, but no.'

I was expecting that. I knew he didn't see me in that way and I knew that this was too fast for him and he didn't have those sort of feelings for me. Yet. Because I know people change over the years, through the company they have and I hoped that someday, he would like me back.

I was completely focused on the house of cards. It was now my one anchor to the impenetrable wall, the unconquerable dam that kept my real feelings away. The one anchor through which I could still keep my poker face and talk in a normal voice without crying my heart out. I replied, in the same controlled voice, 'OK. I respect your decision, whatever it is. Just…well, people change, Percy.'

I looked at him and he immediately tried to avoid my gaze. A sharp pain went through my chest, like someone had stabbed me with a hot iron knife. He said, even more embarrassed, 'I just don't like you in that way at all. We're friends, Reyna, and I think that's all we'll ever be.'

I closed my eyes for a second and looked back at the house of cards. My heart-I could feel it twisting itself into knots. I knew that people didn't exactly like me and consider me pretty and all. I knew they were intimidated, more like scared by me and my lack of expressions. I knew most people preferred a more beautiful and expressive person. I thought that Percy could see me, see me for who I was without the whole façade. Huh, guess no one did understand me. I guess that's the way I'm supposed to live-alone and misunderstood, shouldering my burdens, pains and responsibilities alone. But I had to be strong. I said, my hands continuing the house of cards, my face morphing into my poker face, trying to maintain it and harden it, 'Ok. Anything else?' My tone was formal but not icily so.

He stammered, 'Uh, uh, Y-yes. Y-you see, I, I kind of l-like some...someone else.' He was decidedly staring at the ground now.

My heart's remains solidified into glass or maybe ice. And right now, it felt like it had been shot at and shattered like my spirit. I took a deep breath. My anchor-the house of cards. It was completely irrational now. I felt like it was my only anchor to strength. My mind laughed, but there was no humour. How ironic. I could lend my strength to a million people but I couldn't find my strength in anything else except a house of cards. A card house of stability that gave me the strength to keep up my poker face and utter the next words, 'Oh, that's cool. Who?'

'Annabeth.' His voice quavered. And at that moment, any hope I had that Percy and I could ever get together was gone. Gone with the wind. I smiled inwardly at my own bitter joke. I let go of Elpis completely because, di immortales, I couldn't compete with her.

She was flawless. F-L-A-W-L-E-S-S. A-N-N-A-B-E-T-H. 8 letters. The bloody same thing. And she was smart, pretty, funny, caring, loving and a way better person than I could ever be. More conscientious, nicer, less expressionless, less fierce, less ruthless, less commanding. More like a girl who people loved and cared, not a girl everybody hated but couldn't show it. Not a girl who would only have their respect but ever their love. And Diana help me, I was that girl.

Percy would never ever be with Reyna Ramírez-Arellano as long as there was Annabeth Chase and I knew it. It wouldn't hurt so much if I believed that they weren't meant to be together and I was a more apt choice. But I didn't. They were meant to be together. And I, I was just an unwanted digit in the perfect equation.

I returned to my house of cards. I needed calm. I needed stability. I needed to finish this card house if I ever wanted to have my strength back. I was a madwoman. I was hurt. I was grieving. But I couldn't do anything. And so I went to completing the house of cards like it was the most important thing in the world. I asked in a voice devoid of any emotion, 'I thought so. Annabeth and you-Just friends, huh? But we can still be friends right?'

And I hate myself for wavering on that last line. The only hope I had went into it and my weakness showed. No matter what happened, I needed Percy as my friend. He was my best friend, even if I wasn't his. I needed him as a friend. Nothing else. Just as a friend and I could endure seeing him with a million Annabeths. I hoped, atleast.

I looked at him with a face devoid of any hint of the inner turmoil. He returned my gaze and sighed, 'I'm sorry Rey. Annabeth wants you and me to be together and she thinks that we are really good friends and we, you and me, need to be together. Not me and Annabeth.'

I realized what Annabeth was doing. Stupid, stupid girl. Did she really believe that by rejecting Percy he would become closer to me? No, he'd just become more distant and drift away! Stupid girl. If she thought that Percy and I were supposed to happen only because we were really good friends and if Percy really loved her, that meant he probably….

Percy was continuing, 'She thinks that you and I are meant to be, which is impossible. So, I hope you get it, if we are friends, Annabeth would continue thinking there was something between us and then Annabeth would reject me and we couldn't be together.'

My voice was a deadly whisper, sharper than a blade, 'What do you mean, _Jackson_?'

He noted the edge in my voice and the renewed use of his full name with a gulp. I wasn't helping my chances with him by acting so stand-offish and angry but I was almost about to break. I looked at him for a reply, meeting his eyes for a fraction of a second before he averted his gaze. And that hurt like no knife through the heart would hurt.

He was looking at the house of cards now. 'I don't want you in my life, Reyna. You need someone else, not me.'

I felt blank. Now, I felt like I'd given my all to life and that was it. I felt like an amnesiac for a few seconds and then, I came back. All the hurt and all the misery and heartbreak piled back on me. I wished fervently that I could become an amnesiac, but no-my luck, I couldn't.

'Right,' I replied. Percy looked at me curiously. I did not display any emotion but I returned to my card house. It was vital to complete it. I set my last card to the house of cards. But all my emotions _just_ wouldn't stay buried in. They needed a small outlet and then, my only giveaway. My hand trembled slightly as I placed that last card. But too late. The house of cards crashed down. And the dam, the walls, the mental shields that I had worked so hard for were crumbling. My poker face threatened to give away. I could sense the tears rising in my eyes, mourning the loss of my heart, my friendship with Percy and the card house and all that it symbolized-my strength, my spirit, _my will to live_. I thought bitterly, 'I've endured this much. I can't go on.'

 _I don't want you in my life._ The words echoed in my mind, again and again, my sanity threatening to crumble. And then my conscience whispered, in the voice of Lupa, my mother-who I'd only heard in my dreams, Diana-how I imagined her to be and my own voice-more mature, 'You are Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano. You stay strong-no matter what.'

I looked at the cards on the table (The Agatha Christie pun-I should stop with the bloody book references) and regained my composure. I walked out of the room but I paused at the door. I turned back and looked at Percy, who was looking at me with something like concern in his expression. Concern? In my mind, I laughed a mirthless laugh. I said, in the same deadly whisper I had used before, 'Percy Jackson, it was a pleasure to know you. I hope there are no "problems" or "interruptions" in your relationship with Annabeth. I want you happy.'

He replied, 'Your voice sounds like you want to kill me. I deserve it. I'm a terrible person and a bitch who's been leading you on.'

You know what broke my heart more than Percy saying he didn't want me in his life? Him talking about himself like that. That's one thing I could never bear. No matter what happened.

I replied in a soothing voice, 'Hush… You're not a terrible person. I will kick you in the _bifurcum_ if you ever call yourself a bitch again. You're not. And I would never kill you. Only…never mind.' 'Myself,' I thought miserably.

His expression was the expression he gave when I criticized Annabeth-not a scowl but a look of hurt, like I said something to hurt him personally. I hastily said, 'Not Annabeth. Don't worry. I was truthful. I want you happy. Really.'

I looked into his eyes, beautifully sea green with my onyx black ones. They were beautiful eyes and they were last eyes I would ever look at. The last time I let my heart go. They would be the last thing I ever saw. The last memory I would remember. I gazed into them for one long second, (which I wanted to stay in forever, but I couldn't due to the rising tears in my own eyes) before saying, 'I love you, idiot.' and rushing away.

 ** _PS:GUYS PLSSS REVIEW!I want to know how was it! Forgive me if it was absolutely me how it is, plsss_**

 ** _~more-like-reyna_**


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